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getting from Boston to Peabody, MA

I have spent the morning at the MTBA website and still can NOT figure out how to get from Boston Logan airport to Peabody, MA!! It just keeps asking which station I want - how do I KNOW which station I want if I've never been there!?

Because there is no train service to Peabody. Where are you starting from? airport? train station? Where are you going to? Hotel? Residence? Business?
Here is the link to their trip planner but it asks for addresses as well as stations."Enter an address, intersection, station or landmark below and we'll supply the best travel routes for you"http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/trip_planner/

Where in Peabody do you need to get to? The commuter rail does not run to Peabody. The closest commuter rail station is Salem.

From the airport, you will need to take the T (with several changes) to get to North Station (served by Orange and Green lines). From N Station you can take the commuter rail (Newburyport/Rockport line) to Salem.

If you have an actual address in Peabody, I think there may be a bus from DT or from Salem that can get you there.

It will be starting from Logan airport... hotel has not been set yet in Peabody.

Would Salem be a better town to stay in? Plans arent' set yet, but just want to stay outside the city. I thought there would be someplace easy to get to from the T!

I have just run across the bus site and see that it runs to Peabody from the airport. I'll explore that.

The travelers are ages 30 and 12 (female) and will be on their own in a new city. They are quite willing to take public transportation, so I'm trying to help them out. The had hoped to stay just outside Boston but go into the city to do the tourist things.

The T doesn't go that far out. As has been said before when you stay in the suburbs you have to figure in the cost of transportation to and from Boston, the travel time and loss of flexibility particularly if you have no car.
That said if you want to stay on the T line you may want to check out Cambridge, or the Alewife stop on the Red line,or Newton (Riverside stop on the green Line) and/or Braintree/Quincy on the Red line.
These are all suburbs of Boston with T accessibility.
Salem would require a 45 minute commuter train trip and trains run about once an hour.
Why do you not wnat to stay in Boston?

I would NOT stay out there far. It takes a lot of time to commute every day, and it's not cheap either.

Not sure why one would prefer to stay outside of the city! The city of Boston is beautiful! If budget is your main concern, post your budget and the timeframe you're planning to spend, and I'm sure "we" can come up with some suggestions.

Let's take a step back: WHY do they want to stay outside the city? Are they afraid of staying in the city, or is this an attempt to save money? And how did you choose Peabody, a nondescript suburb 20 miles away?

Yes, Salem would be a better choice: More to do there, and better access to public transit. Still, the commuter rail from Salem to Boston runs on a limited schedule and what's more costs about $10 per person round trip and takes nearly an hour; that would eat up a lot of their time.

As noted above, the trip planner at mbta.com needs specific points at both ends: Either stations or street addresses.

Bad idea. I know hotel prices in Boston are crazy, but try to do this. First, map distances and even drive times are very deceptive. We live 20 miles north of Boston and it can take anywhere from 30-90 minutes to get to downtown.

Second, MBTA involves bus, subway and commuter rail. From the most outlying areas, commuter rail is what serves the area. Commuter rail is great for commuters but not so convenient for others as most lines have few trains during other than commuter AM/PM hours.

Hotels with advertised shuttles to MBTA are a possibility, as long as you realize that these shuttles are dependent on the guy showing up that day and not having to do whatever else he does for the hotel - like maintenance - as a higher priority that day.

The Logan Express stop to Peabody is a parking lot on Route 1. It is not near anything other than a few strip malls and there is no transportation from there to anywhere else. Nor can you get to downtown from there. Nor are there any hotels within walking distance.

If it were me, I would rather cut a day or 2 off my trip to Boston to save money than stay in a place as far out as you are suggesting.

The Logan Express bus costs $22 per person round trip; that's fine for locals who want a convenient way to get to and from the airport, especially in lieu of taxis, but not a transport option for visitors.

They are on a VERY limited budget and are being offered free lodging at a Shell vacation property by a friend. Unfortunately, they have no properties in the city of Boston. Boston is a lovely city and I would stay there, but they are young and willing to rough it.

Now you have me really curious. I went to Shell vacation resorts website and gfound no places in Massachusetts - the closest being Crotched Mountain in NH. What is exact location of this Peabody property, since it is difficult for me to picture any such resort in Peabody - which is a working class town with shopping malls, strip malls and 2 major highways.

I don't know the names of the properties! Shell doesn't list them all on their website -- they have 'agreements' with lots of properties that you won't see on the website. Peabody and Burlington, MA are the 2 closest possibilities to Boston. There is one property in Boston proper, but it's a gazillion points to stay there, so out of the question.

I tackled the MBTA website again and found this, if they stay in Peabody:
Go to Salem Station and take the Rockport Line commuter rail to North Station. Transfer to the subway Green-C Cleveland Circle to Government Station.

This looks to be a 38 min. trip... very doable. It runs every day, including weekends.

Well, if they're on a very limited budget and cannot afford to stay at any hotels in Boston, then I guess they don't have a choice, do they? Esp you're saying that they can stay at this Peabody location for free.

We're not saying that it's not doable to commute back and forth to Peabody each day; we just don't recommend it because of the time and cost it involves.

Yes, the ride is 30 mins from Salem station to N. Station. Then they can change to the T and head to other places. But, apart from rush hour periods, the commuter train runs maybe 1x/hr max. On weekends, it runs once every 1.5-2 hrs.

So, if your friend really wants to visit Boston on their very limited budget, it seems like they don't have any other option apart from the Peabody place. You just need to let them know the time it'll take them to commute and the cost (~$12 r/t for the adult, maybe half-price for the child; just for the commuter rail part).

BTW, the 38 mins you listed does not include the time it'll take for them to get from their Peabody location to the Salem Commuter rail station, and assuming they don't have to wait for a T at N Station at all. I'd say at least 1 hr commute each way.

The Commuter Rail fare from Salem Station to North Station is $5.25 per person each way with no discount for kids, so that would be $21 per day total. And as yk pointed out, there is still the question of how to get to Salem from the mystery abode in Peabody.

Frankly, instead of dealing with that, she might be better-off renting a car and driving directly from Peabody to the MBTA parking lot at the Wonderland T subway station, where the daily parking rate is $3. this would give them a lot more flexibility in their daily travels, since they wouldn't be bound by the Commuter Rail schedule; the subway runs to Wonderland every few minutes from early AM til midnight.

They could then also use the rental car to visit other interesting places around Boston like Salem and historic sites like Lexington or Sturbridge Village. Think of it as a visit to the Boston area, not just the city itself.

38 minute trip? In your dreams. How are they getting from Peabody to Salem? If they have a car, then where will they park it - most commuter lots fill by 7:30 AM or so. There is no public transportation between Peabody and Salem that makes any sense.

Then they need to fit into train schedule. And then they need to make the MBTA connections. This trip door to door is 60-90 minutes at least. Time on train may be 38 minutes, but not the trip.

As silly as it seems to us locals, they might even be better finding a way to Logan Express bus on Route 1 in Peabody, taking bus to Logan and then MBTA into Boston. But that will not save much time either - at least there is parking.

How old is your daughter? This trip sounds like the kind of thing my young-adult children would cook up without thinking about reality. In that case, perhaps they should make the trip - best way to learn about the realities of travel.